The first degree of a scale is associated with the major triad or major seventh chord.

The second degree of a scale is associated with the minor triad or minor seventh chord.

The third degree of a scale is associated with the minor triad or minor seventh chord.

The fourth degree of a scale is associated with the major triad or major seventh chord.

The fifth degree of a scale is associated with the major triad or dominant seventh chord.

The sixth degree of a scale is associated with the minor triad or minor seventh chord.

The seventh degree of a scale is associated with the diminished triad or half-diminished seventh chord.

(I say “triad” or “seventh” chord because it depends on how many notes you’re playing. If you’re just playing 3-fingered chords up the scale starting at “C+E+G,” then “D+F+A,” then “E+G+B,” then you’re not going to create seventh chords. You’re playing triads. But if you play 4-fingered chords up the scale starting at “C+E+G+B,” then “D+F+A+C,” then “E+G+B+D” and so on, then you’re playing major, minor, and dominant seventh chords as you progress up the scale).

What I want to focus on for a second is the “dominant” or the chord that’s played on on the 5th tone of the scale.

It has an extremely strong pull back to the tonic, the 1.

As you may know, the 1 is always home base. It is most common to begin and end your song. It is also the “key” of your song.

The dominant usually precedes it because of its strong pull and relationship.

But there’s another role in music that I want to talk about. It’s called the secondary dominant.

The secondary dominant is basically the “dominant” of the dominant. I know that sounds funny but let me explain…

If G major (G+B+D) or G dominant 7 (G+B+D+F) are dominants of “C” (the tonic), then the secondary dominant would be whatever chord is the dominant of G.

You temporarily have to think in terms of G major. This is called “tonicizing” the G major chord and briefly treating it like the tonic, or home base.

So let’s go over to the key of G for a little while…

G major scale:

G=1
A=2
B=3
C=4
D=5
E=6
F#=7

The 5 of G major is D.

So that means D major or D dominant 7 (not minor) is the dominant chord of G.

It’s a little weird because “dominant” is both a scale degree name AND a chord so don’t mistake playing a D7 chord (or “D dominant 7th” chord) for playing a chord that is the “dominant” of a scale. Those are two different things. D7, when the 5th of G, functions as a “dominant” chord but is also a dominant 7th chord.

Just think of it like this…

What if I named my son, “Son?” Yup, what if his name was actually “Son?”

Son Griggs!

His role is my son, by blood. But his name is also Son!

When I’m not around, people still call him Son because that’s his name. But that doesn’t mean he’s their son. His name is “Son” so that’s what they call him! It just so happens that his actual name and his role share the same term.

But Son is only “my” son just like G is the only dominant in the key of C. But in other keys, yes, you may see a G dominant chord but that doesn’t mean it’s the “dominant” of that key.
It could be a secondary dominant!

So again, a secondary dominant is basically the dominant of the dominant.

Let’s break it down even further:

G major is the dominant in the key of C.

So if I played a D major (instead of minor) to get to G major, then D would function as a secondary dominant in the key of C.

Why?

Because as we established earlier, the 2nd tone of the scale (in this case, “D”) is usually minor. When it’s flipped to major (or a dominant 7th chord), that’s when it functions as a secondary dominant in this key.

So why would we do that?

Why use a major or dominant 7th chord on a tone that’s suppose to be minor?

Simply because of the strong pull dominants (“5” chords) have to their tonics (“1” chords).

So when you put a D major (or D7) before a G major (or G7), the pull is much stronger than using a D minor to a G major chord.

But it goes further…

The “5th” tone of the scale is not the only tone that gets “tonicized” (…recall that “tonicization” is when a tone is temporarily treated like the tonic, or home base). Every tone of the scale has an accompanying dominant chord that leads to it. When this happens, these chords function as secondary dominants in the key they are being used in.

Note: D major is the dominant of G. Since G is not the tonic in this key but only temporarily taking on the role, that means D major is functioning as a secondary dominant in the key of C.

Let’s find out what the other secondary dominants of the key of ‘C’ are.

First up… D minor.

Its dominant is A major or A7 (“A” dominant 7 chord).

The pull from A major to D minor is very strong.

What about the… E minor.

Its dominant is B major or B7.

What about… F major.

Its dominant is actually the first chord of the scale, “C major.” However, it’s more common to see this as a C7 chord leading to the F major chord in music.

We already know G major. Its dominant is D major or D7.

Next up… A minor.

Its dominant is E major.

That’s it!

(In case you’re wondering, we won’t deal with the last chord of the scale which is usually a diminished triad or half-diminished seventh chord, depending on whether you’re playing 3 notes or 4 notes).

Ok, for my last point…

There is a way to notate secondary dominants.

You can say:

V of ii

(which means the dominant of the 2 chord).

You can also say:

V/ii

(shorter way of saying it).

So what if you see V/vi? What does that mean?

You should have answered the “dominant of the 6 chord.”

Note: When using the shorter version, the first letter will always be “V,” signifying the dominant of _____something_____. The second letter will give you the last piece of the puzzle (the “_____something_____”).

So, here’s a list that summarizes everything.

C major:

I = major chord
i = minor chord
V/x = dominant (V) of x

I degree = C major

V/ii = A major

ii degree = D minor

V/iii = B major

iii degree = E minor

V/IV = C major (but more commonly C7 when playing 4-toned chords)

IV degree = F major

V/V = D major

V degree = G major

V/vi = E major

vi degree = A minor

vii degree = B diminished

So how can you use it?

Well, if you had a 1-6-2-5-1 progression in C, that would normally mean these chords:

C major — A minor — D minor — Gmajor — C major

You could either substitute all dominants for these regular minor chords or you could be picky and substitute certain ones.

C major — A major (V/ii) — D minor — G major — C major

Note: “A major” is functioning as a secondary dominant in this C major progression.

OR…

C major — A minor — D major (V/V) — G major — C major

Note: D major is functioning as a secondary dominant in this C major progression.

OR…

C major — A major (V/ii) — D major (V/V) — G major — C major

Note: Both “A major” and “D major” are functioning as secondary dominants in this C major progression.

There you have it! A detailed introduction to secondary dominant chords!

Hi, I'm Jermaine Griggs, founder of this site. We teach people how to express themselves through the language of music. Just as you talk and listen freely, music can be enjoyed and played in the same way... if you know the rules of the "language!" I started this site at 17 years old in August 2000 and more than a decade later, we've helped literally millions of musicians along the way. Enjoy!

What up? Man, you zoomin’ me and I don’t know what is going on. I need to sit down and practice day in and day out. That is the problem, things have just been so tough for me having to struggle with finances, not to say that others don’t face these difficulties too,but practice has become a thing of the past for me. Blog me man, and keep me up on things and hopefully I will be back to practicing soon.

Gregg,
I want to learn how to play music so bad I can taste it. But I just don’t understand how to make my finger play all of the note. Is there some way I need the baby steps this is to advance for me. I know very little. Help

greetings Jermaine,
love all you do, I am a long time subscriber….I am a bit confused…I followed you up until “Let’s find out what the secondary dominants of the other keys are. First up… D minor.” you mentioned A7 is the secondary dom. of D…I thought that A7 would be the dom. 5th and B7 would be the secondary dominant of D minor…not the first time I have had trouble following directions
thanks again for all you do

@Brian: You are right, I needed to clarify this more. I didn’t mean the secondary dominants of these non-tonic tones. I meant the dominants of these keys, which in effect, make these “dominants of dominants” secondary chords in the key of C.

Please re-read (if you get a moment) and tell me if all is well. :). Thanks for your feedback.

I actually have a cousin named Son. Still I followed the upper half pretty well but got a lot confused toward the end. I got my, “The Secrets to Playing Piano By Ear!” book, and tried to find the info the way you put it. After looking quickly I didn’t see a section dealing with the secondary dominant. However, I love music theory and will read this article over and over until I fully understand it.

Please let me know what you’re not understanding and I will do a follow up post to clarify. This could have easily been 3 or 4 posts I tried to fit into one… and I tried to be conservative! Could have easily been a 10-pg post, lol :)

Hey that’s pretty cool. Kind of modal — somewhat like playing a pentatonic minor scale that begins on the 5th degree of of the key being played. EG: Jamming over D minor pentatonic scale when the band is playing in the key of “G Major”.

When I was reading this — I was thinking that you were going to suggest using the secondary dominant chord (of the next chord in the progression) to pull you to that chord. I think I like your substitution idea better but after reading this I’m going to experiment with both. Thanks for the post that got the juices flowing!

Thank you for this last. For me it is the first time I hear this. So I will you use it like a exercice to know well. Words are not suffisant to qualify that you do for me. May our Lord rend it to you.
M Kouassi Theodore in Ivory Coast
Phone: +225 06 74 14 49.

@Douglas: Also observation. You know, you could do a dominant of a dominant of a dominant. This is where people use the “7-3-6” progression:

C major, B7, E7, A minor.

B7 is the dominant or E, E7 is the dominant of A.

*** This progression would have normally just went from Cmaj to Aminor… but then someone decided to add a secondary dominant. So they added the dominant of A, which is E. Then someone decided to take it a step further and add another secondary dominant… the dominant of E, which is B.

I saw on another forum where someone asked if the B was a tertiary dominant since it’s the dominant of a dominant of a dominant… but those don’t really exist.

Once again Jermaine, very good job. I am a new member and i have been playing for about 6 months, never heard of sub dominant before. I understand the lesson quit well and i am now trying to use this while practising.

Dear Sir,
Thanks for the opportunity you’ve given me to be among yours student, I said that the lord should continue bless you
Sir my problem againg is that i dont what the called mixing chord in piano or when playing the keyboaard so please narrate to me what it means by mixing chord
thank from samuel patrick

Absolutely marvelous way of explaining secondary dominants and why they are useful. This also gave me a tip for creating my own useful chord progressions.
You have a way of making music theory not only sound simple and interesting, but also practical and useful.
Keep up the good work and looking forward to more of this type of lessons.
Thanks.

You are a great Teacher Germaine. May the riches from heaven be bestowed upon you so you can continue to share your gifts of music with others. All of your teachings have been understandable, enlightening and a joy to learn. If anyone
seeks knowledge about music you are the chosen one. You are the Man.
Continue to do good works and may God continue to Bless You and Yours in
all that you do.

Wow Germaine I was jamming this week with a friend and we played around with the secondary dominants somewhat and had an awesome time. After listening to the way they seem to pull you out of the key and back in I realized what a great tool this is for creating a bridge when songwriting — or for highlighting hooks in the lyrics.

Also the melodic freedom for lyrical expression while using secondary dominants is really rich. I’ve seen this used in music lots but never knew what it was. I have sometimes been confused when I thought I was hearing a key change but when the song returned to the key without resolving to what seemed like the new root I’d just wonder how they came up with that chord choice and made it work.

Also this added a new look at the “circle of 5ths” theory which was kind of blind to me before except as a memorization tool. Now the circle of 5ths makes sense in ways I’d never twigged to.

Douglas.

PS please delete previous post — this one has typo corrections and grammatical corrections that make sense.

@douglas: Thanks for your comments. You’re absolutely right when you talk about movements that seem to be going to another key but soon return. The usage of secondary dominants is vast. also search for circle of fifths in the searchbox. We have some other articles on the concept.

Was a bit confused, but now have a better understanding of the secondary dominant chord formation. RMJLIFE could check out from page 154 to 162 in the book, but your explanation has made it a lot clearer. Thanks for your support system! Best wishes.

Great job in your explanation of secondary dominants. You’ve made it very simple. It’s the V of something going to that something. A good way for aspiring musicians to think of it is: It will, most likely have a Major triad w/ a minor 7th or flat 7th scale tone, going to the Dominant of the key, then to the Tonic of the key. For example: in a ii-V-I chord progression (key of C), to obtain the secondary dominant, make the “D” chord major instead of minor and then play the “G”chord (the V) and then the “C” chord (the I). As in II-V-I instead of ii-V-I.
Having already taken some courses in Music theory, I was wondering if you can help me with some AVANCED Jazz chord progressions whether common or uncommon. I’m doing a lot of experiments with building songs in a uinque way. Your teachings have always helped me and I continue to be encouraged by your knowledge and style.
Thanks,
Ike

well,it seems that im all alone here on this post but the main thing is :
1-6-2-5-1 progression , like your example above,on the C scale ,you wrote the basic chords : C major — A minor — D minor — Gmajor — C major .
then you switched the D minor to D Major,(and you wrote V/V).
now,if the D minor is the second degree and like u said V/iii , so the answer should be : B major or B7 ,isnt it? ? ?
im kind of confused .
:)

keep on doing what your do, teaching…! it is the sick who need’s the doctor,
if i need healing i will keep on coming to you,
sometimes my problem is….! one visit won’t do,
i have to keep coming for my med……!
keep on unscrambling this puzzle that is so much a part of us,
reading and listening to your work tell me how much you want to unscramble for us

Hi Jermaine,
thank you for the transformational concepts that God gave you for us. I have now started to practice rather than rehearse, I am a sheet player for 15 years.

Just to share something I have discovered, the relative minor of any major key is 3 steps down from the major keynote, I am finding it easier to do this rather than to memorise all the major, minor relationships. I have also discovered that the third of any minor scale is the major scale’s keynote. thanks again the number system is working for me.
tony

Has anyone asked “How do you know when to play a secondary dominant chord? Knowing that D7 is the secondary dominant in the key of C does not tell me what it is about the song that would cause me to play a D7 chord.

A new comer!
Just to say thanks to you for this lesson. I was using Dm to resume to G in C key and never think to raise D chord’s third (F#) to get DMaj which is the real dominant of G in G key.
So thanks a lot for sheding light on this.
Regards

Thanks a lot Jermaine. The explanation was clear and easy to understand. Could you explain about extended dominants, is that the dominant of the secondary dominant? How can we use it?
Thanks in advance for the answer, you keep our minds straight to the point, thanks again…
Carlos
Lima Perú

I came across a Beatles song that used a major in the ii position and didn’t know where that would have come from. I Googled “use a major chord in 2nd degree” and came to your explanation. I think this Internet thing and search engines are really gonna catch on!

I had read once about secondary dominants so I had an idea of what they are, but had forgotten about them. Your explanation took me all the way. Great job ! Thanks a lot ! I like your teaching style and plan to read more of your stuff.

I have a question, if I have a song that normally goes like this: I, I, V7, V7 {F, F, C7, C7}
And I change it to I, vi, iii, VI, ii, V7 {F, Dm, Am, D7, Gm, C7}
Would the Major VI be a Secondary Dominant? I’m looking at a chart, and it looks like the V/vi but in the key of Bb??
And if so, why does it sound good to have it Major?
Why do we change these diatonic chords to Secondary Dominants?
Thanks SO much:)

question.﻿ the song “What the World needs now” in the verse. “Lord we don’t need another mountain” in 6 minor 7 (am7 in the key of c) and goes to gm ( at the mountains word of “there are mountains” which I believe is now the key of F, and in fact resolves to F. Can you give me your take on whats happening there.

I have been using secondary dominant chords in my song writing and didn’t even know it. I could tell they sounded good though. until know I had given little thought as to why. think my mind has just been blown again. this seems to be a common theme when learning music theory.

Great post but I am confused of one thing. The diminished chord is always disregarded understandably because it sounds discordant. Why can’t we just make the diminished chord a major or dominant 7 chord? According to your post the dominant chord of iii is always going to be the same seventh degree note of the scale (diminished). Why isn’t it just taught then to always play the diminished chord as major or dominant 7 since it is the dominant of the iii chord?

Your knowledge and website are an amazing help! I am so glad I found it! Thanks!

Mr. Griggs,
You explained the secondary dominant so well until I understood in one sitting.I
Take music theory and it can be pretty challenging at times. I got the concept within minutes of reading it. I know that It shouldn’t take for ever to learn it. of course it depends on the individual. I’m glad I found your site. I will be back.
Thanks a million. D. Turner

Thank you SO much for this explanation. I am currently enrolled in an Analytical Techniques course to fulfill a requirement in the Master’s Program in Music and Worship. This was BY FAR the best explanation I’ve seen so far and really cleared some things up for me.

Sir, you are blessing to this generation.!! I do hear people play this but i never knew that its this secondary dominants you just taught us.! You taught us as if we were right in the class. You make all your explanation easy for us, and i really appreciate your effort sir. God bless you sir. Dammy from Nigeria

Sir, you are blessing to this generation.!! I do hear people play this but i never knew that its this secondary dominants you just taught us.! You taught us as if we were right in the class. You make all your explanation easy for us, and i really appreciate your effort sir. God bless you sir. Damilola from Nigeria

Hi Jermaine, I have something to add. Let’s say I’m working in Gb minor. I rarely describe anything using sharps so indulge me for a second on that. So here I am in Gb minor, doing my thing, and of course that’s the vi of A. So I’ve effectively tonicized the vi and everything is rooted in that Gb minor. The time comes for a chorus then a turnaround so I use the V of the vi, which is Db7. This makes the ear want the Gb minor to resolve things. See ya, thanks for posting on this topic.